Alyssa’s gaze softened, but there was a flicker of something behind her eyes, a tension that didn’t quite fade. She took a slow breath before speaking, each word carefully chosen. “James is… okay now. He was hurt badly.” Her voice trembled slightly as she spoke, and she paused, visibly struggling to continue. “He has a broken sternum, every single one of his ribs shattered, his pelvis and shoulder were, idk how to expin it, but like they exploded from the inside. There was massive internal bleeding. Several organs were ruptured.” She swallowed hard. “We didn’t know if he was going to make it. It was touch and go for a while…”

  She took a shaky breath, her eyes glossing over as she fought back tears. It took her a moment to gather herself before she spoke again, voice barely above a whisper. “Theo, I don’t know how to say this other than to tell you the truth… James was… James was technically dead. His heart stopped. He wasn’t breathing.”

  Theo’s chest tightened. His entire world seemed to slow down as the words sank in. Dead?His mind raced back to the moment James took the brunt of that attack. He remembered the crash of the floor, the devastation, but he hadn’t known it was that bad. He hadn’t known…

  Alyssa’s eyes watered, but she quickly blinked them away, focusing on him. “We had to work fast to stabilize him. We couldn’t even move him until we got his heart going again. But—”

  He cut her off, his voice raw with disbelief. “His heart stopped? He was dead?”

  Alyssa nodded, her face pale, as if reliving the moment in her mind. “Yeah. For a while. But here’s the thing… the suit should’ve protected him better. It was supposed to handle impacts, absorb shock, and minimize damage. That’s what it’s designed for. But…” She trailed off, her eyes filled with frustration and disbelief. “It wasn’t enough. That hit was unlike anything the suit was built for.”

  Theo felt something coil tight in his gut, a mixture of guilt and confusion. “The suit… Shouldn’t it have been more effective?”

  Alyssa’s lips pressed into a thin line, and she nodded, but her voice was thick with frustration. “Normally, yes. That’s what it’s made for. But the force of that hit… it was too much. The suit’s not built for whatever that was. It absorbed as much as it could, but it couldn’t handle the impact. Not from. Whatever that was.”

  Theo clenched his fists, his mind racing. The guilt gnawed at him, but then something else began to surface—relief. A flicker of hope.

  “But we managed,” Alyssa said, her voice steadying. “We got him stabilized. The internal bleeding stopped, and with the new medical tech, his bones are already healing. The fractures will be fully healed in 5 more days. In another few days, he’ll be good as new.” She gave him a tight, reassuring smile, but there was a sadness in her eyes too.

  Theo exhaled, a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. “5 days? That’s… that’s incredible. He’s going to be fine?”

  Alyssa’s smile softened. “Yeah. He’s in pain now, but the tech we’ve got is unreal. The suit didn’t protect him the way we’d hoped, but the medical tech more than makes up for it. His bones will heal faster than you can imagine. He’s going to make it, Theo. He’ll be alright.”

  Theo let out a long, shaky breath, his heart slowly starting to beat in rhythm again. The weight on his chest was lifting, but the relief was tinged with the sting of how close they had come to losing him. How close he had come to losing James. Again, but this time it would have been his fault.

  He exhaled deeply, closing his eyes for a moment, for now, that weight was all he could focus on. James would heal. He would be okay. That was all that mattered for the moment.

  Theo sighed, feeling a weight lift off his chest. “I’m gd he’s going to make it. I thought… I thought I messed up, that it was my fault. I mean….” Tears began to run down his face “ what if you hadn’t been able to get his heart to start beating again?”

  Alyssa got quiet, her tone softening. “James is tough. He took the hit for both of you, and he’ll be back up in no time. But you’ve gotta take care of yourself, too.”

  Theo nodded slowly, still processing everything. “I just… I want to see him.”

  “Take it easy for now,” Alyssa warned. “You’re not in much better shape yourself. I mean your body’s fine, but you weren’t waking up, and we had no idea why. They read your energy levels again, when you fainted that is, and our medical technology and even the power testing technology, couldn’t even register any signs of life. It was like you were dead. Your body had no life force in it Theo. The only reason we knew you were alive was because your heart was slowly beating and your breath was Shallow”

  Theo’s breath hitched at her words. His mind couldn’t fully grasp it. No life force? His energy levels… gone. It was as if his very essence had vanished. The thought lingered with a strange, unsettling weight. How was that even possible? He had used all of his Bio-Energy power, sure, but not life force? That wasn’t just exhaustion. It was something more, something terrifying. Was Bio-Energy just his life force he pondered.

  He forced himself to focus on Alyssa’s next words, trying to shake off the fear creeping into his chest. His mind kept circling back to James, but that nagging thought wouldn’t leave him. He had been that close to being beyond help. If not for the medical tech, maybe he wouldn’t be here at all.

  Once I’m back on my feet… I’ll make sure James is okay. But… this… no life force… what the hell happened to me?